Tango meets Flamenco at The Guanaquita

Over the past three weekends, Julian and I have been hard at work sharing our enthusiasm for flamenco and promoting our classes at a variety of events. Last night, we got to meet and perform for a lovely group of Tangueros from Kitchener-Waterloo and London, Ontario. Amid an evening of Tango dancing at Carlos Siri’s monthly Milonga La Yumba, held at The Guanaquita Restaurant in Kitchener, participants politely gave us the dance floor and graciously partook in our performance as attentive audience members.

During the remainder of the Milonga, we were greeted by former residents of Andalusia—the birthplace of Flamenco. Who would have thought that we’d all serendipitously end up meeting at a Salvadoran restaurant on a winter night in Ontario, Canada? A note about the Salvadoran cooking: the food and service at The Guanquita is great. As a Salvadoran-born, myself, I feel very happy to have performed there, among the wall art and cuisine of my birthplace. To the Andalusian who was in the house last night, I can only hope that my husband and I struck a similar chord with you, by paying a tribute to the art-form of your homeland; an art form that through history has also become part of Latin America’s identity and that is now growing in popularity in Canada.

Thank you to my University of Waterloo friends and flamenco students for coming out to support, to the Ontario Tango scene for welcoming us to their event, and to the Guanaquita personnel for opening and maintaining such an establishment! 🙂

Sincerely,

Claudia a.k.a. Calú